Take The Next Step
by Chaux-De-Citron
Summary: Everything was left to chance. She was led to them by chance, she befriended them by chance. Would the next roll of Fate's Dice be as merciful as the last? When all that she loves is on the line, can she risk everything to save them? Her nakama?
1. Shadow on the Mountain

**And so begins my first story. Technically, I wrote this years ago, but when I finally fought it out from the Den of the Dustbunnies I thought I could still work with it. So, changing a little of the plot to fit more with canon I hope you enjoy this. XD**

**No pairings as of yet, but feel free to let me know if you'd like any. I'll take anything under consideration.**

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><p>The streets were crowded. So crowded that it was hard to tell when one person ended and another began. The people of both Tani and Konoha rejoiced in the happiness that made the village itself glow and buzz with life. While the people in the streets drank their fill, gossiping among their neighbors, and generally having a good time; the heart of the party was within Konoha Hospital. Inside of a delivery room sat a woman, covered with a fine sheen of sweat from the 28 hours of labor she had been through, cradling a small bundle of pink. The fluffy blanket almost swallowed the small body within, but the heavyset man sitting at her side leaned forward to coo at the baby, large finger pushing aside the blanket so that the tiny hands could grab it.<p>

"You did a wonderful job, Hiroko-chan." The woman, Hiroko, smiled a smile so filled with exhaustion, but at the same time seemed to glow with a sense of pride and happiness. "She's so beautiful. Come closer Kushina-chan and let me see your Naruto." The redheaded woman stood at the door, half supported by her husband.

With a little bit of unsteady shuffling, Kushina sat on the bed with her long-time friend, leaning forward so that the small tuft of blond swathed in blue blankets could be seen. Light blue eyes blinked up at Hiroko owlishly, a tiny hand reaching up to tug on a lock of her white hair. Minato chuckled, flashing his infamous grin at his predecessor, "Aren't they amazing, Jiji?"

For once not smoking his pipe, the former Hokage nodded with a broad smile, the scene reminding him of when his own children had been born.

"A fateful day, to have both the son of the Hokage and the daughter of the Kitsune and Tsubasa clan be born so close together." In a lower voice he added, "I'd watch out if I were you, Minato-kun. Your wife might take that as a sign to do some early matchmaking."

Minato choked on his laughter even while Kushina glared a hole in his face. Ignoring her idiot of a husband she turned back to Hiroko and grinned, "Looks like your little girl is going to be inheriting your hair, Hiroko-chan, but her eyes look more like Ginjiro's. What do you plan on naming her?"

Hiroko looked to Ginjiro and the bear of a man crossed his arms over his chest, even as the chair creaked underneath him. "My clan has a tradition of naming our children after our aura colors. As I expected, due to her lineage she has a different colored aura. She'll be the first in clan history to be named as such. From today on, she is Tsubasa Seiran."

"A fine name, dear. Seiran. It feels like it's meant to be." Hiroko cooed, poking the tip of the newly named Seiran's nose, only for the cherubic face to screw up as if preparing for a sneeze.

"You've birthed a fine kit, imouto."

The low voice came from the corner of the room; burning red eyes fixed themselves onto the pink bundle. "Akei. So you've decided to grace us with your presence after all."

Ignoring the obvious barb at his late entry, Kyuubi stepped from the shadows of the windowsill and held out his arms for his sister to place Seiran. Hiroko gently handed over her daughter, Kyuubi cradling the precious bundle in his arms as if she would shatter at the slightest squeeze. Walking over to the window, the demon lord angled Seiran so that she could peer out the glass. "As one of your homes, this will one day be a place you will protect. The people here are your nakama. Do well to remember that, kit."

The room was silent until Naruto began to cry. Kushina rocked him a little, excusing herself and dragging Minato out with her with a hissed, "Leave them to some family time, baka!"Sarutobi followed the two, closing the door behind him with a nod to the occupants inside. "Enjoy your first night as a family."

A soft _click_ and they were alone. Hiroko was quiet, analyzing her brother as he stared out the window. She had lived with her brother for many years, she knew him inside and out. Something was bothering him. Did it have to do with why he came so late?

"Ginjiro, help me up." Knowing that even if he argued that she would rest, he knew that look in her eyes. If he refused, she would just do it herself. Fixing an arm behind her, Ginjiro easily lifted her up and set her onto the floor, acting as her crutch as she slowly made her way over to the demon lord.

"Akei, there is something bothering you. Won't you share it." Kyuubi disliked that tone. That tone she used whenever she wanted to know something and would pester until she got it out of you.

"It's nothing to be alarmed about, just some probable trespassers on our territory." _And some brutal murders of our kinsmen_. But he couldn't tell her that, not on a day like this.

"You're keeping something from me. What is it."

"Again, it's nothing. A few cocky ninja that think they can sneak past us. Nothing we can't handle."

"…"

"We'll track them down before they can reach the gates."

"…"

"Imouto, enough with the staring."

"…"

"I have nothing more to say to you." Turning his gaze away from his thin-lipped sister, he instead stared out the window and had to force himself to not display the sudden dread that enveloped him.

As calmly as he could he handed his niece back to Hiroko and looked over his shoulder, red eyes locking onto Ginjiro's own gray eyes.

"I'm depending on you to protect her now. She's a mother now. The mother protects the kit, and the husband protects his mate. Don't let me down." Silent words were exchanged between them, vows between men that would only be broken by death. When he was satisfied by the obvious answer, Kyuubi gave a curt nod and vanished. The only sign he had been there was the fading steam that his breath left on this window. And into the approaching sunset, darkness began to fall and atop the Hokage Mountain a figure in black stood. An orange mask sitting on his face with only a single eyehole carved into the wood.

Even while the last of the fog faded from the window, Kyuubi appeared behind this man.

"So you've found me. I wouldn't expect any less of the great Kyuubi no Kitsune."

The man turned slowly until Kyuubi could see his masked face and his own expression turned grim as a single red eye stared at him, three comma marks spinning almost lazily.

"Uchiha Madara. Normally I'd welcome you back, but under the circumstances I sure the formalities can be skipped."

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><p><strong>Goal Number 1 - Create a successful cliffhanger. *looks at ending* I think I'll need to work on that some more. However, here it is, The Beginning Arc and how this all came to be. Reviews are appreciated and I hope you stick around for Chapter 2!<strong>

**Japanese used in this Chapter:**

**Tani - River  
><strong>

**Konoha - Leaf**

**Hiroko - Prosperous Child  
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**Jiji - Old Man  
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**Hokage - Fire Shadow  
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**Ginjiro - Silver**

**Tsubasa - Wing  
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**Seiran - Indigo Blue  
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**Imouto -Younger Sister  
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**Akei - Elder Brother  
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**Kyuubi - Nine-Tails**

**Nakama - Family**

**Baka - Idiot**

**Hope that helped ^^  
><strong>

**Chaux signing out!**


	2. Death's Merciless Embrace

**I'll be posting a poll soon, but right now it's way too soon to be thinking of pairings. However I would like to hear from you readers. I take advice from my readers about my stories. If there's something I've not been explaining write, please bring it up. **

**Now that we've gotten that out of the way please read and enjoy!**

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><p><em>Previously<em>

_"Uchiha Madara. Normally I'd welcome you back, but under the circumstances I sure the formalities can be skipped."_

_Present_

The orange-masked man only chuckled, the sound cold enough to freeze a lake in summer. "My pawn comes to me himself. You've saved me the considerable hassle of luring you out myself." The Kyuubi was silent, alert for any change in Madara's stance. However the man just stood there, lazily looking over the celebrating village.

"Your precious little sister has birthed a spawn. I wonder what power such a child holds. Demonic chakra for demonic arts and human chakra for human arts. She would truly have no limits. I wonder how easy it would be to simply kill your sister and take that child from her cooling corpse." Kyuubi moved without a sound. Clawed hands slicing forward, drawing ever closer to Madara's neck until the demon lord could almost feel the skin beneath his hand.

Until his hand went straight through. He paused right where he was, arm halfway through Madara's body unable to grasp anything. He almost thought he was facing only an illusion, but that idea was shattered quite immediately when the supposed illusion struck out an open palm to Kyuubi's chest and followed through with a hard kick that had him skidding back.

Those hits were definitely made with flesh and bone. _So how had his hand gone straight through? Unless…_ "You've been messing with dimensional jutsu." There was no question about it. It was the only plausible solution. But how? The last one to successfully use such jutsu was the Sage of Six Paths. Making sure to keep his eyes locked on Madara's chest, he wondered idly if it was the work of the Sharingan.

"You'll leave my kin alone." It wasn't even a question. Kyuubi would forcibly pry Madara away from his sister, damned dimensional jutsu or no.

The Uchiha only took a step closer to the edge of the mountain. But just as he would have jumped off towards the village below, Kyuubi made his move.

Appearing behind him with several flame clones, Kyuubi moved with his full speed, not allowing the Sharingan a chance to read his movements. But Madara was experienced. Every attack simply phased through him, but Kyuubi didn't have such a luxury. Forced to dodge and block, Kyuubi realized he had found an opening.

Feinting a right hook, Kyuubi watched as Madara's fist blurred towards his gut. Catching it at the last minute, he jerked the appendage towards him and snapped it backwards with a morbid crack.

A kick to his middle brought enough distance between them, but Kyuubi allowed the Uchiha no time to recover. Dashing forward, tainted chakra covered his hands in claw-like manners, slashing forward and using the momentum to spin around with a kick. A remaining flame clone had snuck behind the masked man while Kyuubi had distracted him and just as his kick phased through his stomach, the clone struck; body twisting into a pillar of fire that struck behind his knees.

But he seemed to be anticipating it, using the hit to push into a roll and come up into a leg sweep that forced Kyuubi into the air. Following quickly, Madara pushed into a crushing offense. With all of his attacks wasted, Kyuubi was strained to keep up a defense and wait for another opening. But Madara had obviously learned from his mistake, never allowing his fist or legs to linger and quickly using his dimensional jutsu after his hit had either landed or been blocked.

Quickly growing frustrated, he unleashed a moderately sized ray of pure chakra at Madara, hoping to at least delay him so that he could touch ground without being forced back into the air. But he got no chance. The Uchiha blazed through his attack and one mistake declared the winner. Muscles tensing, he landed awkwardly, eyes still locked onto a furiously spinning dojutsu.

"Let us see whether this Yondaime is as fearsome as everyone claims when he has to face against a real demon." Kyuubi could feel his mind receding, but using the last of his gathered will, he threw himself off of the Hokage Mountain. Despite the fact that the demon lord could feel his body shifting and changing into his feral form, he ran through the Konoha forests as fast as he could, putting as much distance between them as he could. But he could run no longer. Madara's chakra was in his mind, forcing him from control of his own body until he could only watch helplessly as the world grew gradually smaller around him, tall trees toppling and a mighty roar tearing the night asunder.

_Yondaime, protect my kin._

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><p>"Yondaime-sama! Yondaime-sama!" A jounin scrambled into the room, fear engraved on his face as he barely managed to keep himself upright.<p>

The Yondaime had heard the roar, heard it and felt it shudder through his bones. "What is it? What has happened?"

"It's Kyuubi-sama! He's turned on us and is coming to attack the village!"

Only his willpower kept Minato from showing just how much that one statement affected him. "Sound the alarms, all able-bodied ninja are to fend off the Kyuubi. Do not let him get in!" A swirl of his robes and he took off towards the Hokage Tower, unsurprised at seeing the Sandaime already there.

"I have something that might work."

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><p>Hiroko gazed out the window with something akin to horror etched in her expression as she watched waved after wave of Konoha and Tani shinobi head towards the vast approaching figure of her brother. What could he be thinking? This wasn't like him at all!<p>

"Hiroko." Her attention was brought to her husband who had an unfamiliar stern expression, his eyes hard, "Stay here and protect Seiran. I must go aide them." Shushing her protest he gave a smile that looked more like a grimace, "It is my duty as a Tani Shinobi. Don't worry, saiai. I will return alive." A shunshin took him away. Away to the field that promised certain death.

Hiroko's lips pressed into a firm line, she needed answers and the one she could possibly get answers from would be Minato-san. Carrying Seiran down the halls, she opened Kushina's hospital door only to freeze in shock.

The once fiery redhead now lay slumped against the wall, pinned there by several kunai and not _breathing_. Her eyes darted to the bed where Naruto lay in a bundle of fabric. Eyes darting to and fro Naruto and the dark figure that still had her back to her, she moved without hesitation. Putting Seiran next to Naruto and immediately turning to clash the man's kunai against blunt chakra blades of her own. Holding him at a standstill, sweat gathered on her brow as she began to feed her chakra into a field around the two kits. She wouldn't let this man get to them. As her chakra blades faltered, she moved to kick him away only for her foot to go through him and to lose her balance.

He latched onto the opening like a leech, as she fell back next to the field she had created, his one good hand left, still holding the kunai, jolted forward lodging into chest, just below her collarbone. Still weak from labor, Hiroko wheezed when he left the kunai stuck in her body and threw her against the opposite wall. Spider web cracks forming behind her, white spots erupted across her vision but soon turned to dampening black when multiple kunai peppered her body. Hitting many vital points, she could only give a bloody smirk, the last of her chakra being fed to the field.

Both women dead at his feet Madara was left with only one barrier, literally. Approaching the hospital bed, both babes crying in high wails, the Uchiha bent down ever closer. His good hand extended towards the barrier.

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><p><strong>Goal Number 2 - Write a decent fight scene... Well... I'm not sure. I'd say this was decent, but please tell me what you think of it! I don't want anybody to get confused, especially with these scenes. <strong>

**Not much Japanese used in this chapter aside from basics like kunai and shunshin. But for those who don't know.**

**Dojutsu - Eye technique**

**Shunshin - Flash step**

**Hope you stick around for Chapter 3! XD**

**Chaux signing out!  
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